L'âge des ténèbres

This is not a rip off of American Beauty, but a rip off of Montreal.

The government of Quebec must make this movie mandatory to every immigrant before coming to Quebec because everything in it is 100% true. Our hospitals are horrible and inadequate filled with incompetent doctors, the elderly are treated very badly in nursing homes, the government wastes money in everything but efficiency, less and less people are getting married and affairs are the norm, our laws are retarded and city itself is riddled with depression. sex and alcohol. Our suicidal rates are one the highest and if you don't day dream about an escape, your already dead inside.

Of course, if you are a person who believes our modern society is the culmination of human evolution and you are comfortable with the western way of life, you might not like this movie so much (referring to the review posted by someone from Chicoutimi). Otherwise, it has to be one of the most brilliant criticisms about the North-American way of life. Another reviewer compared it to Brazil from Gilliam, and there surely are some similarities, though Arcand does not go as far into surrealism. The cast is wonderful. All in all it is a great satire that makes you reflect on many aspects of life in our time. It is funny, but really dark at the same time. I liked it even better the second time I watched it. It just lacks a little something - maybe a stronger climax - to be a masterpiece.

The main concept of this underseen Denys Arcand film is not original (downtrodden middle-aged public servant with a problematic family life finds refuge in his nighttime dreams and his even more vivid daytime fantasies), but it is well-employed by the Canadian writer-director and the result is a mature, incisive, intelligent, moving, and sometimes very funny film. As usual, Arcand feels free to deal with a different topic in almost every other scene, and the film embraces ideas as well as good old-fashioned slapstick. 17 years later, its views on our "connected" society and the bewildering government bureaucracy are more pertinent than ever. *** out of 4.

This film is amazingly well done in its subtlety. The direct portrayal of ultra woke and paternalistic government bureaucracies that have hold in Canada is just painfully true. Moreover the less direct but even more pointed portrayal of resistance to it in the lead character's fantasy and alternate life is is just wonderfully subtle.

A sad and dark view of a dystopian Quebec imagined by Arcand in 2007 with some surprising twists. Some of Arcand's predictions are extremely close to what happened in 2020. Other than that, the movie offers some good moments but it's tendancy to alternate between dreams and actual scenes gets on the nerve.